Title: Summer Love: An LGBTQ Collection
Publisher: Duet, A Young Adult imprint from Interlude Press
Published: 23 June 2015
Cover Artist: Buckeye Grrl Designs
Summer Love is the first collection of short stories published by Duet, the young adult imprint from Interlude Press. These short stories are about the emergence of young love of bonfires and beaches, of the magical in-between time when young lives step from one world to another, and about finding the courage to be who you really are, to follow your heart and live an authentic life. The contributing authors have written stories about both romantic and platonic love featuring characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual and queer/questioning. The authors also represent a spectrum of experience, identity and backgrounds.
SUMMARIES & AUTHOR BIOS
Beautiful Monsters
A campaign volunteer is assigned to assist his high school’s Gay Straight Alliance for the Pride Parade, forcing him to face the students he had previously avoided, and the truth about himself.
Author: Rachel Davidson Leigh is a writer, educator, and small town native who tells stories she wishes she could have read as a teen. Beautiful Monsters is her first published work of fiction. She lives in Wisconsin with her family and two dogs who are spoiled out of their tiny minds.
The Willow Weeps for Us
Jack, the young son of a grocer, falls for a charming piano teacher at the dawn of World War II.
Author: Suzey Ingold is a writer, linguist and coffee addict, currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brought up in a household where children's books are quoted over the dinner table, literature has always had a strong influence on her life. She enjoys travelling, scented candles and brunch.
The Fire Eater’s Daughter
When a traveling carnival comes back to town, Ruth must choose between caring for her mother and a life with the beautiful and mysterious Constance, the fire eater’s daughter.
Author: Amy Stilgenbauer is a writer and aspiring archivist currently based in southeast Michigan. She is the author of the novelette series, Season of the Witch, as well as the Young Adult novel, The Legend of League Park. When she isn’t writing, Amy enjoys all things bergamot and tries to keep her cats away from her knitting.
Surface Tension
Logan just wants a summer where he can be anonymous and fit in without labels, but that all changes when he meets out-and-proud Dave at summer camp.
Author: Ella J. Ash is a lawyer by day and an author by night. She has been a writer in online fan communities since 2006. She also enjoys dance parties with her family and cooking experimental vegetarian cuisine. She lives in Toronto with her partner, three daughters and four tropical fish.
My Best Friend
In a letter to his best friend, a young gay man reminisces about their relationship.
Author: H.J. Coulter lives in Winnepeg, Canada, where she works as a respite worker and studies music, in hopes of one day becoming a musical therapist. My Best Friend is her professional writing debut.
What the Heart Wants
A young student discovers attraction and desire through her experience drawing figures in her summer art class.
Author: Naomi Tajedler was born and raised in Paris, where art has always been a part of her life—including painting, restoring books, and working in auctions. She started writing in online fan communities in 2009.
The Most Handsome
Carter, a Cape Cod boy who recently came out as transgender, meets and falls in love with a college student visiting for the summer.
Author: S.J. Martin lives with his partner and their cranky, rotund cat in Washington D.C. He’s a barista by day and a writer by night. He makes a mean cappuccino and lives for good coffee, good books, and good company. The Most Handsome is his first published story.
Something Like Freedom
A boy finds a safe space from which to imagine a new future after leaving his conservative parents’ home, thanks in part to a new friend.
Author: Caroline Hanlin is a full time statistician, a part time stage manager, and an avid sports fan. She currently resides in Boston, where she enjoys writing during her commute. Something Like Freedom is her first published short story.
On the Shore
A young woman retreats to her parents’ beach house to nurse a broken heart, but instead meets a vivacious girl who helps her find joy again.
Author: Rachel Blackburn is a writer, musician and librarian based in central Ohio. When free from work, she enjoys cuddling with her cats, drinking tea, and baking more cupcakes than necessary. On the Shore is her professional writing debut.
Excerpt
Beautiful Monsters
By Rachel Davidson Leigh
“Glad to see you could join the party,” Terrence deadpans, pressing a rainbow bandana into André’s hand. André grabs a second bandana out of the bag, stuffs one in each of his back pockets, and then goes in for a third.
“Cody was checking out the parade route,” André replies, in a smooth lie. “It turns out we’re still walking six blocks through absolutely nothing and then calling it a day.” Terrence laughs, and, as he turns away, André presses a handkerchief into Cody’s hand. “Use it wisely,” he whispers into Cody’s ear. “You’re one of us now.”
One of us. He’s never been part of an “us.” Cody stares down at the lines on the handkerchief and then at the two patches of color on the back of André’s jeans as he walks toward the arriving cars.
Cody expects panic, but it doesn’t come. Maybe he isn’t ready to be Gay with a capital G, but if “us” can mean being one of these idiots, then maybe he’s ready to have people of his own. As he watches the sharp sway of André’s hips, the heat rising up his neck doesn’t feel like fear. It feels like... clarity, as though the run put everything in perspective and now he can’t stop seeing André in crisp, dazzling color.
Someone presses a sign into his hand and guides him toward the parade staging area with the rest of the crew. Once again, he can’t hear himself think over the din, but it’s different now. At the meeting, and for years before that in the hallways, he felt like an invader locked out by a wall of sound, and now he’s somehow wandered inside.
Q & A
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Rachel Davidson Leigh author of “Beautiful Monsters” in the Summer Love Anthology.
Hi Rachel, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hi! I’m a teacher, a writer, and a Midwesterner, who would probably live in coffee shops, given the opportunity. My story in the Summer Love Anthology, “Beautiful Monsters,” centers on Cody Markhausen, a teenage campaign volunteer forced into organizing a Pride parade, and his unwilling collaborator, Andreas Furneaux, who brings him to terms with a few unexpected realizations.
1) How do you develop your plots and characters?
I spend a long time planning, taking notes, and questioning my own plot choices. Why does character A show up when she does? How would character B react in this situation? Or, more importantly, what would character B never do in this situation? Recently, when I was having trouble getting a solid grip on a character, I started a diary from his perspective, in the hopes that I might get a better feel for how his mind worked. Generally, I know that I’ve done enough when scene writing starts to feel like improvisation. At that point, I can stick them in a space, give them a situation, and just watch what happens next.
2) Who doesn’t love a good hero? Tell us about your protagonist. Was there a real life inspiration behind them?
My protagonist, Cody, would probably laugh if anyone tried to call him a hero. The campaign manager he’s working for basically dragoons him into working with the Gay Straight Alliance at his school, and he just wants to hide under the table until it’s all over. At the same time, as his author, I absolutely think that there’s a lot to admire in a seventeen year old kid who faces his demons head on. Cody spends a solid chuck of “Beautiful Monsters” terrified for reasons he can’t even put into words, and yet he keeps coming back to help, because of the other kids in the GSA; because of Andre, the kind-of intense leader of the group; and because when it comes right down to it, he’s all they’ve got.
3) What real-life inspirations do you use when world building?
I tend to start with a real-life situation and build from there. For example, when I was seventeen, I really was an intern for a local senate race, and I was put in charge of organizing the campaign presence at the tiny, local Pride parade. Now, my boss wasn’t an ogre, I was already in the Gay Straight Alliance, and I didn’t meet anyone exciting during the process, but the foundation was in reality.
4) Did you learn anything from this story and what was it?
I learned the difference between storytelling for the reader and storytelling for the process. There was a long scene, early in the first couple drafts that hurt to cut. It felt important for reasons I can no longer remember, and three different people had to point it out before I finally took the plunge. The story was unquestionably better once the scene was gone, but I also know that I needed to write it. That scene informed how I wrote my protagonist for the rest of the story and so, one it had done it’s job, I could let it go.
5) It’s your last meal on earth. What do you choose?
I’d have a picnic. I know that I’m probably supposed to just pick my food, but I’d be more excited about rest of the experience. I’d want to sit on a blanket at an outdoor concert and let the meal take hours. I’d invite my friend who knows her pastry and the two who know their wine to bring their favorites. Then, we’d eat seedy mustard and cold meats on homemade bread and sing bits from musicals until I had to go.
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